Outback is unsafe admits police chief hunting killer

An Australian police chief today said the Northern Territory where a British backpacker was kidnapped and another feared murdered is not a safe place for tourists.

The Territory’s Crime Commander, Assistant Commissioner John Daulby, spoke as murder inquiries were stepped up following the discovery of the body of an Australian hitchhiker who had been stabbed to death.

‘‘We have a homicide inquiry going - we obviously have an offender or offenders out of that. Are they out there? Yes, they are.

‘‘I wouldn’t say the Territory is a safe place,’’ he said.

Detectives were today trying to establish a link between that murder and the disappearance of Peter Falconio, from Huddersfield, who was attacked 223 miles away - not a great distance in the outback.

Police have also switched some inquiries to Sydney to start interviewing friends and former colleagues of Mr Falconio’s girlfriend, Joanne Lees.

They will begin interviews tomorrow as part of a check on the English backpacker, a police spokeswoman said last night.

Joanne worked at a Sydney book shop for three months until May to save for the outback trip with her boyfriend.

Meanwhile, Territory police have also seized security camera footage from service stations South Australia and Queensland in their hunt for the Outback gunman who abducted Joanne and it is believes he shot Mr Falconio.

They admitted yesterday that Alice Springs service station security camera images of the suspected gunman should have been released weeks ago.

But the tapes were delayed because Northern Territory police were forced to wait in a queue for the images to be enhanced by another State’s police force.

They show a man fitting the description of the gunman but do not reveal the registration of his car.

The footage was shot five hours after the couple were attacked 186 miles to the north of the service station.

Territory police are still refusing to rule out a link between the Britons gunman and the murder of Stuart Rhodes, 39, from Adelaide, whose body was found 37 miles south of Alice Springs on Sunday.

Assistant Commissioner Daulby refused to comment on whether Ms Lees had positively identified the man in the service station footage as her attacker.

The photographs drew 50 calls to a police hot line today from people throughout Australia, including a number from New South Wales, who claimed to know the identity of the man.